Some Sort of Love Story
by fotoshop-cutout
Summary: 100 themes of Shassie to create a story arc.
1. Recoverable

Title: **Some Sort of Love Story**

Pairing: **Shassie**

Notes/Warnings:** un-betaed.**

* * *

_Recoverable_

Certainly Drimmer had been wrong—it was just a way to make anyone who would be investigating their deaths uncomfortable enough to turn away. It had caused him a moment's panic nevertheless. _Had he been that transparent?_ But Spencer had forced him to recover—to think, to use his gun. He supposed, in the end, he was somewhat glad that the seed was planted; not by him, but by a third party. He also was more than pleased to have discharged his weapon in front of the pseudo-psychic.

All in all, the incident was recoverable. He covered his ass by saying Drimmer was insane while building rapport with Spencer. Not that he wanted rapport. Not with Spencer, at any rate.

* * *

_Tomorrow's Theme: "Achievable"_


	2. Achievable

Title: **Some Sort of Love Story**

* * *

****

_Achievable_

Carlton had learned, when Karen had her child and remained as Chief—even became permanent—that his goal, his _dream_ of being Chief was unattainable. However, he had to replace that goal with something feasible.

_Having a happy marriage and starting a family._

That was achievable, wasn't it?

* * *

_Tomorrow's Theme: "Prickling"_


	3. Prickling

Title: **Some Sort of Love Story

* * *

**

_Prickling_

Whenever Lassie's blue eyes were boring holes in the back of his head, Shawn had the oddest prickling sensation. In order to hide the unwanted effect the older man had on him, Shawn made his "visions" as dramatic as possible. It helped to distract him from the feeling.

* * *

_Tomorrow's Theme: "Inconsiderable"_


	4. Inconsiderable

Title: **Some Sort of Love Story

* * *

**

_Inconsiderable_

The mere thought of being anything more than rivals and unwilling co-workers with Shawn Spencer was detestable—inconsiderable, even. Why would anyone want anything to do with that fraud?

Carlton glared at his partner as she stopped him from shooting Spencer for the umpteenth time that week. He totally deserved it—if only in the leg.

"Lassie, you can't _always_ be right."

Maybe the kneecaps, today.

* * *

_Tomorrow's Theme: "Edged"_


	5. Edged

Title: **Some Sort of Love Story

* * *

**

_Edged_

He knew that working with him was like working with a sword. A serrated sword. What with the way he cut through his competition and everything.

Why yes, he did think he was witty for coming up with that.

He felt less witty when he said it out loud. He felt worse at Spencer's response.

"Then I must be the double-edged sword—I've got Gus."

The two best friends bumped fists and Carlton had a strange yearning to be the one bumping fists with Spencer. Maybe he just wanted to be part of the double-edged sword wittiness.

* * *

_Tomorrow's Theme: "Unattractive"_


	6. Unattractive

Title: **Some Sort of Love Story

* * *

**

_Unattractive_

Shawn couldn't help the errant thought of Lassie not being unattractive. So at the first chance he got—and damn it why was Lassie drunk?—he said so. He found the correct term was 'handsome' once he analyzed the thought. He told Lassie so while he was sober. He also called him 'jangly'. Perhaps he could have done without that adjective.

* * *

_Tomorrow's Theme: "Confiscate"_


	7. Confiscate

Title: **Some Sort of Love Story

* * *

**

_Confiscate_

He didn't have long before Carlton noticed him at any crime scene he went to. It wasn't that he wasn't stealthy, it was more the fact that there weren't many people there period. It was easy to get noticed. The fact that Shawn was seen at the scene wasn't the fact that bothered him. No, it was the fact that every time he came with a pineapple smoothie, it got confiscated by the Head Detective.

At first Shawn thought he was just throwing it away outside of the crime scene, but instead he found (by staying longer at the scene than usual) that the man was actually drinking his smoothies. The ones he paid for with his hard-earned money (it wasn't even _Gus'_ money!). Oh would Lassie pay. In smoothies, probably.

* * *

_Tomorrow's Theme: "Dizzying"_


	8. Dizzying

Title: **Some Sort of Love Story

* * *

**

_Dizzying_

It wasn't often that Shawn's "visions" actually left him dizzy, but sometimes they did. This result was by a much more innocent cause than the cause of standing too close to Lassie. That had quite the dizzying effect. Especially if they touched at all. Shawn called it the "Lassie Sickness". He blamed the man for having too many negative emotions towards him. The truth was something much worse. Shawn refused to acknowledge that.

* * *

_Tomorrow's Theme: "Nonchalant"_


	9. Nonchalant

Title: **Some Sort of Love Story

* * *

**

_Nonchalant_

The nonchalant way that Spencer wrapped up each case with a nice, neat bow and always managed to get it right (even when he got it wrong _first_ {and if a _Detective_ did that wouldn't there be hell to pay?}) drove Carlton crazy. And not the good kind of crazy. He wanted to wring the fake psychic's neck. Why couldn't he just let Carlton do his job? Or better yet—be wrong just _once_ while Carlton was right. It was so—so—so!

The bullets hit the paper target and Carlton gave a shark-like smile.

So _infuriating_.

* * *

_Tomorrow's Theme: "Seventy"_


	10. Seventy

Title: **Some Sort of Love Story

* * *

**

_Seventy_

Shawn hadn't meant to show up at the restaurant where Lassie had his meeting with some woman. Actually, he did. He had seen the man's datebook and decided to do some covert ops. Of course, he wasn't very "covert". But then, it startled him that the woman that Lassie was having dinner with was around seventy years old. Who would have known?

Then again, when the Head Detective was slapping him on the back to get him to breathe air instead of Sprite, he realized that the woman was probably of some relation to him. That conclusion was proved correct when Lassie grudgingly introduced him to his _Mother_.

He then proceeded to trade embarrassing stories about "Booker" with her.

* * *

_Tomorrow's Theme: "Indulgent"_


	11. Indulgent

Title: **Some Sort of Love Story**

Notes: Thank you to everyone who reviewed and added this project to Story Alert :) I'm glad people are enjoying this!

**

* * *

**

_Indulgent_

It was when Carlton was comparing prices between pre-cut pineapples and the whole fruit that he realized that everything in his basket was upon Spencer's request. He was becoming far too indulgent on the younger man's behavior.

And why wasn't he breaking into anyone else's houses anymore?

* * *

_Tomorrow's Theme: "Tousled"_


	12. Tousled

Title: **Some Sort of Love Story

* * *

**

_Tousled_

_Thud_.

Carlton reached under his pillow, drawing out his gun as his bare feet hit the floor. The darkness in his living room was back-lit by a street light filtered by the shades. A silhouette of a smaller man with wild, tousled hair and Carlton released his breath and set his gun down on the nearest available surface. The silhouette was hunched over as he took a few steps towards him.

"Spencer?"

The silhouette's owner turned towards him. Carlton could practically feel the man smiling at him.

"You moved the table."

Carlton rolled his eyes.

"It's _my_ table, I'm allowed to move it. Do you always come in the middle of the night?"

Then again, maybe he didn't want to know the answer to that.

* * *

_Tomorrow's Theme: "Color"_


	13. Color

Title: **Some Sort of Love Story

* * *

**

_Color_

"Give him a fish."

A pause and then Shawn frowned.

"Excuse me?"

Gus looked up from his computer. "I'm sorry, I thought you asked how to get more color in someone's cheeks."

Shawn gave him an incredulous look. "You got only half of what I said right. I _said_ that Lassie seems sick, he's either flushed or his cheeks are pink. I asked if you had anything I could put in his food so he might feel better."

Gus leveled a look at his best friend. "He's a person, not a dog."

Shawn shrugged.

* * *

_Tomorrow's Theme: "Exquisite"_


	14. Exquisite

Title: **Some Sort of Love Story

* * *

**

_Exquisite_

Pineapple was an exquisite taste: only those with refined palates enjoyed the delicious flavor. Spencer had mentioned this on several occasions in Carlton's presence. Carlton preferred the experience of watching Spencer savor the taste of the fruit. Now _that_ was "exquisite". Not that Carlton would ever admit to something like that.

* * *

_Tomorrow's Theme: "Inevitable Defeat"_


	15. Inevitable Defeat

Title: **Some Sort of Love Story

* * *

**

_Inevitable Defeat_

Carlton was drowning his sorrows (primarily at being out-shone by the resident Psychic Detective on the most recent case) in a glass of scotch. A re-run of Cops played, muted, on the TV as blue eyes gazed, unfocused at the wall behind it. He was content to sit there as he did on other nights, letting emotions pass on his face without holding back. It was torn between anger, grief and awe at the moment. Lately this had been getting worse.

Everyone at work thought he was getting sick; the hard truth was that he was sitting up late into the night, thinking. He usually just left the lights off, sitting in the glow of the television and sipping at his drink. Spencer was often in and out of the house: the light footsteps and the rummaging through the fridge always caused the Head Detective's hand to jump to his gun before he calmed himself and just listened to the man rustling around.

This must be defeat.

* * *

_Tomorrow's Theme: "Marshmallow"_


	16. Marshmallow

Title: **Some Sort of Love Story

* * *

**

_Marshmallow_

Shawn knew that Lassie was less than pleased about the goings-on at the crime scene today. He had tried to cheer him up after the mascot (was that a giant marshmallow? Gus kept calling him the "Michelin Man" but Shawn didn't believe _that_) from the car dealership tripped when being arrested, falling on the body.

Of course, singing "When I Think About You, I Touch Myself" by Cindy Lauper was probably not the best choice for cheering him up.

* * *

_Tomorrow's Theme: "Holocaust"_


	17. Holocaust

Title: **Some Sort of Love Story

* * *

**

_Holocaust_

This was his career in shambles. This—chaos at a crime scene. Vick would have his head on a pike and he would lose his job and all he would have to look forward to was his mother and possibly Spencer rubbing it in and making him feel worse about this... this... _holocaust_.

He ran a hand through his hair and tried to calm himself. Then Spencer had to go and grope him while singing that ridiculous song in front of everyone. He chose to shake his head and walk away. He didn't need to lose his temper even more today.

* * *

_Tomorrow's Theme: "Wavelength"_


	18. Wavelength

Title: **Some Sort of Love Story

* * *

**

_Wavelength_

Getting on the same wavelength with Head Detective Lassiter was like rock climbing. Or maybe more like mountain climbing. Shawn wasn't sure; maybe both. It was all hard work and fear of slipping backwards, but when you managed to achieve it, it was the most beautiful, wonderful thing in the world. You wanted to take pictures.

Or not, but you get the drift?

Shawn had finally gotten Lassie to let go of his grudge on the poor Marshmallow Man and had laid the correct offender on a silver platter for the Detective to arrest. Of course, he knew that this would mean that Lassie would go home and drown himself in scotch again tonight. Shawn had other plans for him, though.

* * *

_Tomorrow's Theme: "Tattoo"_


	19. Tattoo

Title: **Some Sort of Love Story

* * *

**

_Tattoo_

The TV lit up only a portion of the room. Shawn slumped against the door frame, looking at the man as he looked back. Shawn munched a cookie he had found in the cabinets. They held eyes for a while before Shawn approached, plopping himself down on the couch all while looking at Lassie and finishing his cookie. He swallowed thickly.

"I know you have a tattoo."

This seemed to confuse the slightly drunken man.

"You do?"

Shawn nodded, licking crumbs from his fingertips. "It's on your left hip. Kind of effeminate, but that's the only girly part of you, so it's alright."

Shawn looked over at Lassie as he continued. "You know, you have a great solve rate; you're a great Detective."

* * *

_Tomorrow's Theme: "Tether"_


	20. Tether

Title: **Some Sort of Love Story

* * *

**

_Tether_

Karen told him to put the Psychic on a short leash for this case. It seemed to Carlton that she was finally beginning to understand his side of things. So Spencer was never apart from him.

Except when he lost him at the strip club.

When he found Spencer in a crowd of the dancers in the back room he was unamused. He was also quite jealous. He found himself keeping Spencer even closer after that.

* * *

_Tomorrow's Theme: "Masochism"_


	21. Masochism

Title: **Some Sort of Love Story

* * *

**

_Masochism_

Clearly he was masochistic.

He continued their nightly disputes as to who was the better detective with the fake psychic; determined to win the argument with Spencer in the lead as 'best detective'. He just wanted to be told that he was as horrible as he felt. As bad as he knew he was.

* * *

_Tomorrow's Theme: "Sidekick"_


	22. Sidekick

Title: **Some Sort of Love Story

* * *

**

_Sidekick_

It seemed like the midnight visits from Spencer were just a dream—perhaps a drunken delusion—whenever they were in public Gus was always _there_ and Carlton didn't want to bring up something so personal (to see if it actually did happen or not) in front of a sidekick.

Not that Carlton would call him that to his face, but he did wonder what Gus brought to the table, professionally.

* * *

_Tomorrow's Theme: "Receptivity"_


	23. Hybridizing

Title: **Some Sort of Love Story

* * *

**

_Hybridizing_

Carlton was upset when he found out that the Mayor was forcing Karen to hybridize the force. Everyone knew that those Hybrids wouldn't work out well as Squad cars, nor did Carlton want to be driving one of those around. No one else took up his side except Spencer, who ended up not even mattering. Carlton still thanked him, that night, for supporting his argument. He still wasn't exactly sure if it was actually Spencer there, or if it was just his mind playing tricks on him.

* * *

_Tomorrow's Theme: "Receptivity"_


	24. Receptivity

Title: **Some Sort of Love Story

* * *

**

_Receptivity_

To say that Lassie's receptivity for change was healthy was to say that Shawn hated pineapple. It was an outright lie. Shawn realized this and embraced it. He was pretty bad with change himself, so he would stick by Lassie's side when it came to keeping things the same.

Besides, Hybrids were ridiculous and something Gus would drive.

* * *

_Tomorrow's Theme: "Inadequate Fool Disorder"_


	25. Inadequate Fool Disorder

Title: **Some Sort of Love Story

* * *

**

_Inadequate Fool Disorder_

Finally—finally!—Lassie was over his "Inadequate Fool Disorder". Right around the same time that Shawn's "Lassie Sickness" was ebbing away. It meant a comfortable lull in their relationship when both parties weren't that anxious in each others' presence.

Until Shawn did something stupid.

That was just barely, when he leaned over the space between the couch and the armchair Lassie was in and pressed his lips to the other man's. He tasted like scotch and warmth. Saltiness. Shawn knew as before he was doing it that it was a terrible idea. Now he felt even worse about it.

* * *

_Tomorrow's Theme: "Unlikely Companion"_


	26. Unlikely Companion

Title: **Some Sort of Love Story

* * *

**

_Unlikely Companion_

It was three weeks and four days later when Carlton and his unlikely companion entered the coffee shop together, early in the morning. They'd been up all night, discussing random topics and avoiding their feelings. It didn't stop Carlton from ordering Spencer's coffee for him and paying for it. Nor did it stop him from pressing a chaste kiss to the man's stubbly cheek before parting ways, later, headed for the precinct.

* * *

_Tomorrow's Theme: "Desirable"_


	27. Desirable

Title: **Some Sort of Love Story

* * *

**

_Desirable_

Carlton had alone time in between the kisses when he wondered what he found so desirable about the other man.

He came to the conclusion that while there was nothing remotely desirable about the man, everything was perfect for him.

Except the fact that he was a _man_. That was kind of strange. He never once thought about how it might cost him his job (Spencer could already cost him that just fine), nor did he particularly care about anyone else's thoughts on the matter.

Not to mention, he didn't think that _whatever_ it was that they were doing, was _serious_.

* * *

_Tomorrow's Theme: "Measure"_


	28. Measure

Title: **Some Sort of Love Story

* * *

**

_Measure_

Shawn wasn't sure how to approach labeling whatever it was that Lassie and he had. So he didn't. He didn't bother sitting around and measuring what he felt for Lassie, nor demanding to know how the Detective felt about him. Instead, he just let it go, like he did with most people he had 'relationships' with.

Not to say he had any sort of 'relationship' with Lassie. He wouldn't admit to that no matter how many tickle-torture sessions he was put through.

* * *

_Tomorrow's Theme: "Sacrifice"_


	29. Sacrifice

Title: **Some Sort of Love Story

* * *

**

_Sacrifice_

Carlton didn't actually have to sacrifice much to spend time with Spencer. It ended up that the man was nonplussed by his temper and dedication to his career. Both were things that intimidated and threatened Victoria.

That had been the last time he compared Spencer to his ex-wife.

Spencer understood and worked around the things that were important to him. Either that or he wheedled his way into them.

* * *

_Tomorrow's Theme: "Playground"_


	30. Playground

Title: **Some Sort of Love Story

* * *

**

_Playground_

It figured that their first fight occurred at the station.

"Shawn _stop_. This isn't a playground. You could get hurt."

Shawn gave Lassie an odd look—when had he become so obviously caring of him? Lassie didn't seem to notice and went straight back to work. Shawn didn't stop having rolling chair races with Gus, it was too much fun.

* * *

_Tomorrow's Theme: "Translator"_


End file.
